Filter cigarettes typically comprise a rod of tobacco cut filler surrounded by a paper wrapper and a cylindrical filter aligned in an end-to-end relationship with the wrapped tobacco rod. The wrapped tobacco rod and the filter are normally joined by a band of substantially water impermeable tipping paper. The tipping paper circumscribes the entire length of the filter and an adjacent portion of the wrapped tobacco rod. In conventional filter cigarettes, the filter usually consists of a plug of cellulose acetate tow wrapped in water permeable plug wrap. However, filters comprising other filtration materials such as crepe paper and viscose are also known, as well as multi-component filters that comprise two or more segments of filtration material.
When the butt of a conventional filter cigarette is discarded after smoking, the substantially water impermeable band of tipping paper slows down the process of degradation of the butt.
It would be desirable to provide a smoking article comprising a filter that gives rise to a butt that is capable of degrading more rapidly when discarded compared to the butts of conventional smoking articles with filters.